Endoscopes have attained great acceptance within the medical community, since they provide a means for performing procedures with minimal patient trauma, while enabling the physician to view the internal anatomy of the patient. Over the years, numerous endoscopes have been developed and categorized according to specific applications, such as cystoscopy, colonoscopy, laparoscopy, upper GI endoscopy and others. Endoscopes may be inserted into the body's natural orifices or through an incision in the skin.
An endoscope is usually an elongated tubular shaft, rigid or flexible, having a video camera or a fiber optic lens assembly at its distal end. The shaft is connected to a handle, which sometimes includes an ocular for direct viewing. Viewing is also usually possible via an external screen. Various surgical tools may be inserted through a working channel in the endoscope for performing different surgical procedures.
Endoscopes, such as colonoscopes, that are currently being used, typically have a front camera for viewing the internal organ, such as the colon, an illuminator, a fluid injector for cleaning the camera lens and sometimes also the illuminator and a working channel for insertion of surgical tools, for example, for removing polyps found in the colon. Often, endoscopes also have fluid injectors (“jet”) for cleaning a body cavity, such as the colon, into which they are inserted. The illuminators commonly used are fiber optics which transmits light, generated remotely, to the endoscope tip section. The use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for illumination is also known.
One of the biggest challenges facing endoscope manufacturers is the need to miniaturize and pack a number of elements into the endoscope's tip in order to support large number of endoscope functions including operation of medical tools, imaging capabilities, field of view illumination, fluid injection, and other functions.
There is thus a need in the art for endoscopes, such as colonoscopies, that allow efficient packing of endoscope's internal parts, while maintaining endoscopes functions.